The Moral Merits of Reading Fiction ... Not One of Literature's Strong Suits?

By Justin Tackett*

Stanford humanities scholars say imparting morality may not be one of literature's strong suits.

The last time you finished a novel or short story, your emotions might have been stirred, your intellect exercised, or your curiosity disappointed. But were your morals improved?

The Writers Museum in Edinburgh; Christian Bickel, Wikimedia Commons

The relationship between literature and morality – and the proper role of both – has long engaged philosophers, critics and writers. But at a recent event hosted by the Stanford McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, Stanford humanities scholars said that while literature is capable of providing new perspectives and challenging our assumptions, imparting morality might not be one of its strong suits.

"The best we can say about literature is that its effects are not reliable," said panelist Joshua Landy, a professor of French and of comparative literature and co-director of Stanford's Initiative in Literature and Philosophy. "As they say in the medical profession: results may vary."

A philosopher and senior associate dean of the humanities at Stanford, Satz said most people read literature to be educated, entertained or to experience beauty and to find their way into the lives of others, rather than for moral reasons. However, she said, these very aims could also "serve moral purposes."

"Literary fiction helps us develop additional schemas, other ways of seeing the world different from our own," said panelist Paula Moya, professor of English and director of the Program in Modern Thought and Literature at Stanford.

Literature, Moya added, is "brilliantly suited to the exploration of what it means to be an ethical human being in a particular sociohistorical situation," referring to the complicated friendships depicted in Toni Morrison's Sula as a compelling example.

An empirical approach to the question was taken by David Kidd, a PhD candidate in cognitive, social and developmental psychology at New York's New School for Social Research, whose work explores the relationship between fiction and empathy.

He cited five experiments he conducted with his adviser, psychology Professor Emanuele Castano. Participants read various selections of fiction and were asked immediately afterward to respond to images of facial expressions as a means of assessing the participants' "theory of mind," a concept from developmental psychology.